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Topic: National Elections Thread (Read 25941 times)

I think - with the candidates mostly decided and Trump as decided as he might well ever be about his Veep, we could discuss the national elections here.

Some interesting tidbits - Clinton has some choices to make in regards to countering Trump's choices. Gingrich is Moon Unit. He will never escape that.

Mike Pence is batshit insane and is best countered by someone shown able to govern and who has better results than Pence.

And Mike Flynn is a blowhard with Putin's interests at heart despite his almost caricature esque personality - he is best dealt with via a sensible military involved individual.

As for some more Republican News, Trump has said that five to ten years after he becomes "in charge", the Republican Party will become a "Workers Party". This sounds incredibly familiar but I'll hold the references until it becomes unspeakably blatant.

I'm really surprised the Jill Stein is at around 5% in the polls, mostly by bernie or bust. She's pretty transphobic, she panders to the anti-vaccination crowd, she is anti-gmo (despite its numerous testing and health benefits), and supports homeopathy despite being a harvard medical graduate. She is a mean spirited person who has no problem pushing vague insinuations ("Big Pharma") or celebrating the brexit vote despite it being pushed on the back of xenophobia and racism (hey, the ends justify the means). Her comments on ontheissues are only in the year that leads up to her elections, and I can't recall reading one that was critical of the GOP, only the democrats. It would be nice if during the other three years she could help leftist causes, but that's too hard for her. It's easier for her to run in elections, siphon votes from the dems, and help the GOP win.

I'm really surprised the Jill Stein is at around 5% in the polls, mostly by bernie or bust. She's pretty transphobic, she panders to the anti-vaccination crowd, she is anti-gmo (despite its numerous testing and health benefits), and supports homeopathy despite being a harvard medical graduate. She is a mean spirited person who has no problem pushing vague insinuations ("Big Pharma") or celebrating the brexit vote despite it being pushed on the back of xenophobia and racism (hey, the ends justify the means). Her comments on ontheissues are only in the year that leads up to her elections, and I can't recall reading one that was critical of the GOP, only the democrats. It would be nice if during the other three years she could help leftist causes, but that's too hard for her. It's easier for her to run in elections, siphon votes from the dems, and help the GOP win.

You're only focusing on specific issues as opposed to her overall record.

Edit: This is exactly the opposite of what you did with Hillary.

She has only held one elected position: the Lexington Town Meeting Representative. She doesn't have "a record."

Good jorb me. For following someone on tumblr who remotely does politics. And without further ado....the GOP platform.

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Conversion therapy for queer kids. Let me repeat that. CONVERSION THERAPY FOR QUEER KIDS. Some members of the RNC even wanted to endorse it more explicitly than they did.

Zealous opposition to same-sex marriage. Here’s the quote: “Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society. For that reason, as explained elsewhere In this platform, we do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the States.”

Reversing the Obama administration’s order to grant trans students access to restrooms, locker rooms, etc. The Republicans feel that such things should be based on biological gender, not gender identity.

Treating internet porn as “a public health crisis.” Quote: “Pornography, with his harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and wellbeing[.]”

Gender discrimination. To quote Time magazine: “[T]he platform committee voted against including the word “gender” in a list of types of discrimination that should be opposed. On Tuesday, one member described the attempt to add that word to a list including qualities like race, sex and creed as a “sneak attack.”

Repeal of the Johnson Amendment. The Johnson Amendment currently prevents churches and other tax-exempt organizations from organizing politically, endorsing political candidates, etc. Repealing it would throw separation of church and state out the window…not to mention that it would give evangelical churches and televangelist organizations much more power, driving the country further to the right.

Good jorb me. For following someone on tumblr who remotely does politics. And without further ado....the GOP platform.

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Conversion therapy for queer kids. Let me repeat that. CONVERSION THERAPY FOR QUEER KIDS. Some members of the RNC even wanted to endorse it more explicitly than they did.

Zealous opposition to same-sex marriage. Here’s the quote: “Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society. For that reason, as explained elsewhere In this platform, we do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the States.”

Reversing the Obama administration’s order to grant trans students access to restrooms, locker rooms, etc. The Republicans feel that such things should be based on biological gender, not gender identity.

Treating internet porn as “a public health crisis.” Quote: “Pornography, with his harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and wellbeing[.]”

Gender discrimination. To quote Time magazine: “[T]he platform committee voted against including the word “gender” in a list of types of discrimination that should be opposed. On Tuesday, one member described the attempt to add that word to a list including qualities like race, sex and creed as a “sneak attack.”

Repeal of the Johnson Amendment. The Johnson Amendment currently prevents churches and other tax-exempt organizations from organizing politically, endorsing political candidates, etc. Repealing it would throw separation of church and state out the window…not to mention that it would give evangelical churches and televangelist organizations much more power, driving the country further to the right.

And I'll start screaming and never stop.

Ironbite-*drinks*

I wouldn't look too much into it. It is absurd, but the GOP is at a crossroads. The majority of their primary voters are bigots and xenophobes, hence Trump's success. But, the majority of their donor money comes from a few very religious nut jobs. The donor group doesn't trust Trump's conservative credentials, so the party is pivoting to the religious right to make up for Trump flip-flopping on every religious right issue.

Not that it isn't absurd, and not that a lot of republicans in Congress don't want that, but that it's probably a tad hammed up to compensate for the Thrice Divorced Philandering Tit-judge at the top of the ticket.

Tony Schwartz, the man who was the ghostwriter of Trump's The Art of the Deal is having serious regrets. He directly admits he sold out his principles for the paycheck but didn't realize he was playing the part of Doctor Frankenstein by starting a domino effect. His guilt is probably exaggerated because someone else would have ended writing the book if not him but almost anyone with any kind of principles would feel awful in his shoes.

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“I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”

If he were writing “The Art of the Deal” today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, “The Sociopath.”

The talk about the end of the civilization is a typical hyperbole people use but it does tell how much Schwartz hates the guy. After he had agreed to write the book he tried interviewing Trump but the orange one didn't have enough of an attention span for him to get anything useful. He almost quit at that point but Trump happily agreed to let Schwartz follow him around and listen to his business calls to collect material.

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“It’s implicit in a lot of what people write, but it’s never explicit—or, at least, I haven’t seen it. And that is that it’s impossible to keep him focussed on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes, and even then . . . ” Schwartz trailed off, shaking his head in amazement.

...

Schwartz says of Trump, “He lied strategically. He had a complete lack of conscience about it.” Since most people are “constrained by the truth,” Trump’s indifference to it “gave him a strange advantage.”

When challenged about the facts, Schwartz says, Trump would often double down, repeat himself, and grow belligerent.

Nothing Schwartz describes is much of a surprise but he does confirm that Trump is exactly the privileged, shameless manchild he seems. The bully we see is the same person he is in private. Like Schwartz puts it, “There is no private Trump.”

Schwartz originally caught Trump's attention when he wrote an article exposing his questionable business methods and presented him as a ruthless thug. The most telling detail about Trump's personality in the whole interview is his reaction to this article. When you mock the size of his hands he will obsess about it for years but in this case...

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“I was shocked,” Schwartz told me. “Trump didn’t fit any model of human being I’d ever met. He was obsessed with publicity, and he didn’t care what you wrote.” He went on, “Trump only takes two positions. Either you’re a scummy loser, liar, whatever, or you’re the greatest. I became the greatest. He wanted to be seen as a tough guy, and he loved being on the cover.”

It's funny to compare the Republican convention to the recent Conservative convention up here (and keep in mind that the Conservatives' campaign tactics have been heavily influenced by the US Republicans), where they did things like remove any mention of marriage from their platform (previously it had been their official position that marriage is between a man and a woman, though they didn't whip any votes on the matter), and had one of their up-and-coming MPs come out with the line "Discussing the fundamental rights of human beings is not the place for politics."

Logged

Quote from: Jordan Duram

It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data."

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Be weird, cause normal is boring.

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From my rotting body, flowers will grow and I am in them and that is eternity.